Sturgeon Still Has Fantasies Of Independence - (De-criminalising 'Dope' Must Help)

 Sturgeon Still Has Fantasies Of Independence 

- (De-criminalising 'Dope' Must Help)

In 2016 the SNP government asked Police Scotland to change its guidelines on prosecuting people for possession of cannabis to just a police warning, and between January 2016 and 2021, the number of prosecutions in Scotland halved.  The SNP claimed that this was evidence of more 'progressive' attitudes in Scotland towards cannabis use than in England and Wales.

But now Public Health Scotland has admitted that over the same period the numbers of people suffering mental health problems linked to cannabis use has rocketed. In 2021, a record number of 1,263 patients were admitted into psychiatric hospitals for mental disorders linked to cannabis use.

Is that what the SNP consider to be progress?

Meanwhile the fantasy of an independent Scotland continues to seep out of Holyrood and at every twist and turn First Minister Sturgeon seeks to demonstrate how Scotland does things differently to the Westminster government and never fails to indulge in point scoring.

The latest futile gesture is over the Westminster government's move to create a series of 'free ports' across the United Kingdom. Of course, Nicola Sturgeon has to put a spin on this and during the recent visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she insisted that Scotland would create 'free ports' BUT these Scottish free ports would be classed as 'green free ports' with more environmentally friendly policies and industries than those in England and Wales.

A turn about here because last year the Scottish government was opposed to the idea of free ports because the strategy had grown out of Brexit, which the SNP opposes. But now the SNP and their Scottish Green allies have been able to put their own spin on the policy and Dundee is likely to be the first 'green free port' in Scotland.